Assessment of the traditional goat production systems in rural areas of the Nile Delta in Egypt

Abstract

BackgroundDescription of goat populations in Egypt is necessary for providing information on common goat types and their characteristics and may be essential for the pointing and accomplishment of any intervention strategies willing to preserve and manage goat genetical resources at the rural districts based level. The aim of this study, therefore, was to characterize traditional goat production systems in some villages of the Nile Delta in Egypt. We conducted structured questionnaire interviews and participatory assessments for five villages of Menoufia governorate involved in farming livestock and in animal health. Elementary data were collected using an interview scheduled. Data composed on socio-demographic characteristics of the farmers were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages.ResultsRecorded data indicated that there were different contributions of livestock species to household livelihood. The results recorded that most of the farmers were male in all villages. The livestock owned comprised of buffalo, local cattle, crossbred cattle, sheep, donkey, chicken, rabbits, and ducks. There was general agreement among the respondents that crop farming, livestock, and goats were important for livelihoods, where it recorded the highest percentage (79, 77, and 76%), respectively. Twin kids of goats were the majority type of births (62%), also does with multiple births were more popular and preferred (98%) for farmers compared to single births (2%). With regard to production categories, the number of goat kids born emerged as the highly important categories for keeping goats in the opinion of all farmers (70%). Most of farmers indicated that crop farming and livestock keeping as the main system in their livelihoods (69%). Irrespective of the village, a large percentage of farmers (89%) indicated that cash income from the sale of goats was one of the important reasons for keeping the goat. Daily milk yields were not estimated by farmers and not taken into account. Most of the farmers (90%) indicated that lack of access to improved goats is the main constraint specified. Parasites (both internal and external) and pneumonia were recorded as important disease categories, but internal parasites were given high importance by all farmers (31%). Goats did not sell through any formal market channel in villages under study and goat meat is not found in any butchery or shelves of the villages’ supermarkets.ConclusionsFrom these results, we concluded that this study can provide us with a baseline survey of which the information can be used in future projects to develop the traditional goat production systems in rural areas of the Nile Delta in Egypt.